@noreservations Medium Raw

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Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, is Anthony Bourdain's follow-up to Kitchen Confidential.  Written almost a decade after the first book, it's a must-read if you liked his earlier work or are a fan of Bourdain on TV.

I must admit, I was supposed to be reading books for work... but then after reading Kitchen Confidential, I went headfirst into Medium Raw without skipping a beat.

In the book, Bourdain isn't so much giving a continuation of the linear story he told in Kitchen Confidential, but sharing a collection of essays... some are responses to things he wrote a decade earlier, others are new experiences, and many are his opinions and experiences with other chefs.  I don't know how to explain it, but I suppose if you've ever seen the show No Reservations you know the reason the book is so good...  Bourdain is honest, unapologetic, and a REAL person.  You can tell how he has grown up, tell how his daughter has affected his views, see how fame has changed his life.  And yet in spite of the changes in his world, he has remained himself at the core, with a real gift for story-telling.  I had a blast reading this.

I've starting following Bourdain's Travel Channel blog, as well as his Twitter account, and I am never disappointed.  But it's not that I'm obsessed with Bourdain as a person.  I'm just obsessed with living vicariously through his senses... all the amazing food he gets to taste, the sights around the world he gets to see, the smells, the sounds.  Bourdain has a way with words that really transports me to someplace else.  If I ever got to meet him in person, I would be ecstatic... but if not, I already feel like I know him and will continue to read so long as he continues to share with the world his culinary and life experiences!